Increasing the affairs of individuals and enterprises are being conducted in an automated manner over the Internet. Enterprises now engage in selling their products and services over the Internet; individuals also engage in communicating with one another over the Internet; employees may also engage in accessing secure resources of their employers over the Internet, etc.
One issue with enterprises and individuals connecting with one another over the Internet or connecting with one another via a private network connection is that data or files stored on one device may include a different operating system (OS) and file system then the other device for which a connection is being made. Thus, access to some data and files may be restricted because any OS being used for a transaction may attempt to access data on another OS having a completely different file system.
One example of this situation is associated with the Macintosh® OS that uses a file system deploying the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP). Unlike most other file systems, AFP manages a file as two separate components a data fork representing the primary data content and a resource fork representing management and security data associated with the data fork. The user interacts with the data fork whereas images and localization data for the file is housed in the resource fork. This delegation of duties (via managing a file as a data fork and a resource fork (two distinct entities or components)) makes supporting AFP in other OS's difficult to achieve.
Consequently, there is a need for improved techniques for supporting disparate file systems.